Reviews via Workflow, Task or Something Else?
Hello all,
Looking to see if Wrike has a best practice, or if anyone else has a recommendation, for accounting for various rounds of review for tasks when planning project timelines. We can only think of two ways to do it - either workflow steps or sub-tasks - but hoping there might be a third way. Here are the pros and cons we're debating.
Workflows: We currently have reviews listed as steps in our workflow, e.g. Content Review, SME Review, Requester Review, Customer Review, etc.
- Pros: Reduces the amount of sub-tasks that need to be created and managed. On the final deliverable task, we just change the workflow step. When Content Review is complete, we move it to SME Review, and so on.
- Cons: Confusion around the definition of "Finish Date." For instance, if a task has a finish date of Friday, is that when the primary assignee is supposed to upload it for review, or are they supposed to do that on Wednesday so there's time for review? Do we create an arbitrary standard - e.g. "always move to review five days before the due date to allow for review time" - to avoid tasks going overdue?
Sub-Tasks: We've seen other companies create separate tasks for each review. So, for us, we'd potentially have 2-4 additional sub-tasks for every single deliverable requiring review.
- Pros: Avoids confusion and missed steps by getting even more granular with actions required. Helps take some thinking out of work for assignees because they don't need to mentally account for how much time reviews will require. Helps plan waterfall-type projects more realistically by accounting for all necessary review time when planning tasks start and end dates.
- Cons: That's a ton more tasks we have to create with every single project!
Has anyone tried both, or a third way, and found a method they prefer? Or are we thinking about anything the wrong way?
Lee Procida We've used both methods you mention above, but have settled on workflow steps with Approvals. You may already be using workflow approvals, and if so you can ignore the rest of this 😄. For example, when artwork review is needed, the status is set to "Submitted for Approval" which automatically launches the approval process to the assigned approver. If the approver approves or rejects the artwork, it automatically transitions to the appropriate workflow status based on their decision. This covers the responsibility (task owner) and accountability (approver) aspects for a given task.
We also use automation steps to notify the correct team members once a task has reached a particular status. This give a seamless transition from, for example, approval of artwork to integration of that artwork into our product specification which is managed in a separate task by a separate team member.
Hope this information is helpful!
Thanks Trevor Tollefsbol! I'm not familiar with that functionality - is that an add-on or a feature only available with a certain plan tier?
That's definitely a helpful automation. The trouble we're having is just trying to schedule work appropriately to account for review times while also making use of task start/end dates for our widgets and dependencies. Do you plan out your projects in a Gantt chart, or just generally based on meeting a certain deadline? If so, how do you account for review time needed for each task?
I have thought about using the approvals feature for reviews as well but one of the cons I am unable to think through is that when you use the approval process the task doesn't show up on your calendar/my to dos/schedule with clear and explicit due dates. Some of my coworkers really like the ability to be able to plan for a week based off what is due when.
am I missing something in the approval process that would help with this? Since I am new to using approvals I thought maybe there might be something I am unaware of.
Mahalo (Thank you) in advance!
Hello Sadie E, may I ask if you've considered using a Dashboard Widget for an overview of your approvals? "My Pending Reviews" widget shows all the tasks with approvals assigned to you with due dates.
Hi Cansu! I was not aware of that dashboard widget. I tried creating it in my personal space but was unable to locate that widget. Is there another way to access that dashboard widget besides having the Wrike for Marketers plan or with the Wrike Proof add-on enabled. I don't think I have access to those two options.
Hi Sadie E, unfortunately, it's only available on accounts with Wrike for Marketers plan or with the Wrike Proof add-on enabled. If you'd like to find out more about any of these options I can arrange a call with your Wrike Representative 🙋🏻♀️
Hi Sadie E,
To create a dashboard showing your outstanding approvals, use the following steps from your Dashboards panel:
Hit the dropdown menu and create a new dashboard with a meaningful title. We use "Team Member Approvals" and "Management Approvals".
From the new dashboard, configure a new "Custom" widget.
To setup the Widget, select the Space or Folder you want the tasks pulled from on the left configurator panel (include tasks from subfolders). On the right side configurator panel, uncheck everything except "Pending Approval By" for the approver(s) you want in the Widget.
Hope this helps in your setup! BTW, we do not have Wrike for Marketers. Just a Business license type.
Cheers!
Trevor
Adjusting our Wrike plan is not an option for us. However if there is a way in the future that is created I am all ears!
Mahalo for this Trevor Tollefsbol! So you are using a status as a marker to pull all the tasks that are pending approval. This is likely something we can fit into our workflow! Not sure why I didn't think of that before! Appreciate the idea!